


A Bird Should Never Doubt it’s Wings

by flinthasfeels



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Ash Lynx Loves Okumura Eiji, Ash will never get over Eiji pole vaulting, Did u guys see his face when Eiji first did it, Encouragement, Light-Hearted, M/M, Okumura Eiji Loves Ash Lynx, Pole Vaulter Okumura Eiji, Pole Vaulting - Freeform, light fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29503425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flinthasfeels/pseuds/flinthasfeels
Summary: Eiji tries pole-vaulting again. Alas, he’s caught with uncertainty, but unlike last time, he has Ash, and encouragement never hurt.
Relationships: Ash Lynx & Okumura Eiji, Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Comments: 2
Kudos: 83





	A Bird Should Never Doubt it’s Wings

Pole-vaulting wasn’t something Eiji had done in a while, but the spark reignited within him the day he had come to New York— newfound motivation and a cleared mind brought him back, pole in hand.

Upon the sunny horizon rested a bar set high, and he kept his eyes targeted on his final destination. His footsteps paced faster, hands balled tight around the pole. He could feel the wind kiss his face and flow through his hair as his legs carried him faster. He felt like he was ready to fly again.

Until he wasn’t.

A huge wave of emotion abruptly weighed him down like a ball and chain, a similar emotion he felt before he had left for New York. His footsteps hindered and his shoulders slouched.

Suddenly the bar felt too high for him.

Craning his neck upward, he eyed the bar he felt so determined to jump over, he wondered why he felt this way. The faltering adrenaline continued to make his heart beat hastily into his ears, drowning out another pair of footsteps from behind.

“Hey, are you going to jump old man?” Ash teased, somewhat out of breath and poking his shoulder.

Though that playful expression quickly melted away when he saw such a look plastered on the others face.

“Hey—“ he placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Eiji dropped the pole, which followed an echoing clang. “I feel like I can’t do it, it’s the same feeling I felt before I had went to New York.”

There was no point hiding it, being blunt seemed like the easy way out of this conversation, anyway. Alas, Ash is here for him, and Eiji swore he could have caught a quick glance from him that practically yelled,

_Thank god I don’t need to pry this out of you._

“What’s stopping you?” Is all Ash asked upon receiving an answer from Eiji.

“Fear,” he breathed out. “I’m scared I’ll hurt myself again— and with that I’ll lose my passion.”

Ash let that answer sink into the atmosphere, airy silence mixing in with it. He could envision a younger Eiji, practically above the world and flying with the birds. He could only  imagine  what that must’ve felt like, to be carried by the wind for only a few seconds— the euphoria he felt thinking about being suspended in the air would never compare to actually being present within the moment, and he knew.

He wants Eiji to feel that again, he wants to see Eiji do such a thing.

“Do you remember when you had to jump over that wall? Back in New York?” Ash quizzed, now resided in sitting position on the concrete.

Eiji nodded, sitting as well.

“How did you feel in that moment, while you were in the air?”

“It felt relieving.”

“Was fear present there too? We  _ were _ in a bad situation.”

Eiji nodded again, seemingly contradicting his earlier said statement.

The other could only begin to form a reaction before Eiji continued. “That was different, I used it to save us, it wasn’t used for fun or as some sport, you know?”

Ash began to reminisce back to when he had first met Eiji. He remembered taking him as such an idiot when he glanced at him tearing out a rotting pipe, practically on the verge of snapping. Yet Eiji’s face had showed that he put in faith in both his ability and that pipe, and Ash sat idle. Not even moments later Eiji was launched mid air. The pipe had inevitably snapped, but oh was he flying, body curved as he made his way over the wall.

He remembered Eiji’s grand exit left a gush of wind to push his own hair in all types of directions, but it also left a face of astonishment.

Skipper’s cheering echoed in his brain, bringing him back to present time.

“Watching you pole-vault was certainly something,” Ash started, glancing at the pole that laid idle next to Eiji. “I think the chances of you getting hurt right now is unlikely, and even so, you’re _stubborn_. If pole-vaulting is something of a passion, you should keep doing it.”

Eiji smiled, and Ash felt something diffuse in his chest, like he accomplished something— and maybe he did.

He smiled back. “I think you should try again, eh?”

“I don’t think it would hurt if I try,” He replied, reluctant but also rather sure.

And so, he brought himself up, pole in hand once again.

He trotted backwards, furthering his distance away from Ash and the bar he hoped he would soon fly over, positioning his arms and tightening his fists. He glanced at Ash from afar, and even from said distance, he could see that damned smile. Backing down didn’t see like an option anymore.

His brain was forced to clear, faltering any worries that fed him negativity, he let himself free and found his legs carrying him across. Those arms of his ascended that pole before then planting it back down into the ground. The pole bent as it lifted him higher, his body positioned, hands letting go.

And he flew, blocking the sunlight from Ash’s vision. The wind carried him— his hair danced and his clothes jolted in every direction.

That’s when Ash knew he would never grow tired of such a sight, seeing Eiji suspended in the air, free as a bird.

And he hoped to see it hundreds of more times.


End file.
